Beauty and the Beast (Dir. Bill Condon, 2h 9m)

 

Now some four films into their ongoing remakeathon, in 2015 Disney chose to remake arguably the pinnacle of the Disney Renaissance, and one of just three features ever nominated for Best Picture,  the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast. Whilst this can certainly be seen as a bold move (the live action Disney remakes have ranged from telling a story from another angle (Malificent) and arguably better than their animated counterparts (The Jungle Book) to odd and inessential (Cinderella), it's also one that seems surprisingly risky-this, after all, has long been one of Disney's crown jewels in their crown. What we get, in essence, thus, is a by-the-book, oddly unadventurous remake that is so visually close to its animated original, that, whilst magical, seems oddly inessential.

Given the popularity of this film (heck, I must be one of the few people that haven't seen the 1991 original, I must have no childhood, right?), it's only necessary to give a cliff-notes version of the plot. Belle (Emma Watson, essentially reprising Hermione from Harry Potter, with a dash of oddball and daring, although her singing voice is surprisingly decent) is Belle, the daughter of an inventor, who lives in a small, parochial village somewhere in slighty-pre-Revolutionary France; the village thinks she's weird, doesn't appreciate her teaching other children to read or, in short, acting unwomanly. Despite this, Gaston (Luke Evans), a former soldier turned hunter, and owner of the largest ego in Disney history seeks her hand in marriage, which Belle bluntly turns down. When her father, Maurice, goes missing, Belle goes in search of him, finding first a castle in which the entire staff have been transformed into household objects, and the titular Beast.

The Beast is by far the best thing about this live action adaption at this point-the Beast's castle may look quite spectacularly organic, Evans and Watson certainly look the part, and act the part, and the various transformed servants show CGI can be as charming and fluid as hand-drawn animation, but the Beast, in perhaps the best realisation of the character since the great Jean Marais himself, is by far the most spectacular effect-whilst the original Beast's design is suitably animalistic whilst keeping some dignity, and certainly some nobility, it's not a design that transfers well to live action-one only needs to look at the way that the musicals have pared down the design to understand why.
The live action Beast is at once more noble and savage-the influence of Marais upon Dan Steven's performance is clear, but the Beast has an almost Del-Toroish appearance, horns now swept backward, the face leaner, more expressive-Steven's vocal performance is also more powerful, capable of slipping between the sharp tongued scholar, joking that some of his books are in Greek to the astonished Belle, to an almost primal bellow of fury.

Having met and been taken aback by the Beast's appearance, Belle nevertheless takes her father's place, becoming an unwilling captive-however, after she is sent away by the Beast and subsequently rescued by him from a wolf attack, they begin to communicate with each other, and seem to have a shared interest in books and learning. Meanwhile, Maurice attempts to convince Gaston to rescue his daughter, whilst the Beast and Belle begin to understand more about each other, and the curse the Beast has been put under, leading to the film's (and indeed the animated original)'s most iconic scene, the Ballroom dance-and honestly this is where the problems begin and end with Beauty and the Beast. The Beast looks beautiful, the setting suitably majestic, Emma Watson suitably wide eyed and fearless
Everything else...is very by-numbers. Evans' Gaston is a braggart but he's, aside from one truly diabolical scene, incredibly un-intimidating, the various household members are either given too little to do-McKellen and McGregor seem to have been picked to give this film more heft with anglophile nations, many of the other servants are either single-note caricatures, and the supporting human cast are essentially there to meet up with lost relatives in the finale. Nowhere is this almost maniacal attempt to keep Beauty and the Beast as close to the original than its musical number, but most are ramped from quiet, charming intimacy to the sort of thing one would expect opening a major supporting event, or otherwise harking back to the "all-singing, all-dancing" mass-choreographed numbers of the average 1930s and 40s pictures.

Yet, the scene in which we expect all the stops to be pulled out, the camera to be as balletic, as dynamic, technical barriers to be broken down as well as the original animated film did, with its truly spectacular melding of CGI and traditional animation, the moment you need this film to truly soar, to truly copy its animated forebear...it falls flat. My problem lies not with that iconic dress-like much of the costuming it matches the period perfectly, and certainly looks as stunning as the original in the flesh, but with the way this entire scene is shot-it, in a word, is boring. We want the camera to dance, to move with Belle and the Beast as they begin to realise they are falling in love, and it does not. It it often motionless, or the scene is shot from far away, thus losing the intimacy and charm.

Belle is sent back to her village after seeing, via the Beast's magical mirror, her father in trouble, whilst the Beast begins to resign himself to his fate. Gaston then sees the Beast via her mirror, and vows to destroy the Beast, imprisoning Belle and her father. Making her escape, and returning to the castle, whilst the mob takes on the furniture, watches in horror as Gaston seemingly kills the Beast, before falling to his death. Fortunately, the sorceress who cursed the Beast returns, and touched by the way that Belle has fallen for the Beast, not only lifts the curse but brings the Beast back to life, and thus a happy ending.

Beauty and the Beast is an oddly soulless beast-at points the original magic breaks through, but too often, the film is so eager to please, to recall the original triumph, that it sadly finds itself without much new to say. Not a beast but a pale imitation of a striking beauty.


Rating: Neutral.